Former Nebraska linebacker Phil Ellis had an interesting take on what has been hot topic in Nebraska this week has been the revelation that prior to playing USC, the Huskers hadn't practiced in full pads since preseason training camp. Ellis, who played for the Huskers from 1992-95, said NU's practices under coach Tom Osborne where much different.

"We went full pads pretty much three days a week and we had 15-play scrimmages with No. 1s against No. 1s every week, no matter what," Ellis said. "We went full-tilt -- Tommie Frazier, Brook Berringer, Ahman Green -- it didn’t matter who they were, they were going down. There were no green jerseys or anything like that. You were getting hit and hit hard.
"I will take it to my grave believing that that's why we were good. We would kill each other in practice and when we were done killing each other, we were ready to kill somebody else. When you practice every day, ones against ones, you’re going to get better."

It will be interesting to see how the Huskers play this week after padding up for practice this week. While probably every coach would like to put their players through live plays in practice every week, they have to balance staying sharp with the potential for injury to key players they're going to need on Saturday. It's definitely a tough call for any coach to make.

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